


Always With You

by LeChatRouge673



Series: Canon Verse Stories and Wanderings [11]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 09:16:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19885234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatRouge673/pseuds/LeChatRouge673





	Always With You

_Winter_

This was always a difficult time of the year. The excitement and joy of the holidays had faded, leaving only the somber, grey drabness of late winter in their wake. The long, dark nights dragged into brief, muted days, the promise of spring always just out of reach. It left Cataline feeling uncharacteristically irritable, and bored, something she was loathe to ever admit to.

It had been this way ever since she was a child back in Highever. She had never had the same tolerance for the cold and frost as her brother had. While Fergus would spend hours in the snow building forts and engaging in pitched battles with the keep’s other children, Cat would often retreat to the library or her room with a book and a mug of hot chocolate, or persuade Thea to play cards or some other game. There had never been any lack of things to do around the castle; rather, it was almost as though winter itself leeched Cat’s desire to do much of anything at all.

Even now, she had a stack of letters at her side, waiting to be answered or at least read. There were the annual yields from her share of Seawolf & Steed to review, though she was quite certain Thea would have informed her already if anything had been amiss. There was also a letter from her old friend Zevran, on paper that still bore the faint scents of spice and rust. At the top was the letter Cat was most inclined to reply to: a missive from Thea, outlining the plans for Cat and Nathaniel’s upcoming visit to Montsimmard in the spring, after the snows had melted and the passes had cleared. But even the promise of seeing her favorite cousin and cousin-in-law was doing little to rouse her from her lethargy, and Cat had barely written three lines of her reply on the parchment in front of her.

“Copper for your thoughts, Wildflower?”

Cat shook her head, refocusing her attention from where it had been gazing off to some undefined point in the distance. “I fear you would not get your coin’s worth, love,” she replied wryly. “I cannot seem to be able to focus for more than a few fleeting moments at a time, and even then I have done very little that could be considered productive.” She set down her pen with a sigh. “You know I have never done very well with this time of year.”

“I know.” Nathaniel offered her his hand and she accepted it, standing up and letting him wrap her in his arms. “I admit I am going a bit stir-crazy as well: there are only so many laps around the battlements I can make before everything starts to look the same. I have lost track of the number of times I’ve tended to my bow, or your blades, and every time I try to sit down to read a book the words all begin to run together and before I realize I’ve read the same page a half dozen times.”

“Exactly,” Cat agreed with a dejected shrug. “I do not suppose you have any suggestions for shaking it off?”

“You mean besides the ones we availed ourselves of this morning?”

Cat laughed. “And last night, and midday on Monday…”

Nathaniel tilted her chin up so she could face him and see his own lips curved up in amusement. “Well, we could always try tackling some of this correspondence together. Might make it more interesting, at least.”

“True.” Cat sat back down at the desk, moving her chair slightly to make room for the one her husband pulled over. “Besides, this way you can add your drawings to the edges of the one I send to Thea. You know how much they amuse her.”

He leaned down and brushed a kiss to her lips. Somehow, she no longer felt quite so bored.

“Deal.”

* * *

_Spring_

Cataline breathed deeply, filling her lungs with the delicate, ethereal scents of light and growth. Though the swaying branches of the trees hung over much of the path, the stubborn cheerfulness of the sun still managed to peek through, painting a dappled pattern over the ground where their horses ambled at an unhurried pace. As desperate as both she and Nathaniel had been to get out and travel after the winter months, now that they were on the road again they were able to simply enjoy the journey, and each other’s company.

They had sent most of their things ahead to Montsimmard before they had left Vigil’s Keep. It meant living out of their saddlebags for the journey, but it was worth it to have the freedom of movement and pace that it allowed them. It was a long ride, but the journey was half the fun, and it simply meant Cat would be all the more grateful for a soft bed and a home-cooked meal when they arrived at the home of Theadosia and Loghain Mac Tir.

“Think the lake will be warm enough for swimming by the time we arrived?” She asked her husband, tone slightly dreamy. He chuckled quietly.

“Probably not at first, but we will be there for three months. I am sure as we come into summer it will be more tolerable. Personally, I am more interested in the promise of the wildberry pie Thea promised us. The sooner those come into season, the better.”

Cat laughed, the sound bright in the quiet of the calm spring air. “Oh, I have missed that. And I have missed them. It will be so good to have the four of us back together again, if only for a short while.”

“I know, Wildflower. I have missed them too.” Nathaniel reined in Aster, glancing around at their surroundings. “What do you think? Want to keep pressing on to the next village, or set up a camp here for the night? It’s not too late in the day yet, but…”

“But late enough,” she finished for him. “The weather has held. Why don’t we veer off the path a bit, see what we can find?”

Off the main road, they came to a reasonably sheltered meadow. He helped her dismount, then led Lark over to graze alongside Aster. They set up camp, then shook out a blanket over the grass and settled in with some of the provisions they had picked up in the last town. Over a bottle of wine they talked and laughed and dreamt there in the springtime sun, and Cat lay down beside her husband and spoke idle words as he wove her a crown from the blossoms that shone amongst the grass. And when the gentle shades of twilight began to fall and the air embraced them with a playful chill, they built a fire and sat there together for a long while, safe in each other.

“Nathaniel?”

“Yes, love?”

She smiled, her head nestled against his shoulder and her heart at peace. “I am simply glad you are here.”

“Oh, Wildflower,” he laughed softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Always. For the rest of my life, there is no where I would rather be than at your side.”

They were far from Vigil’s Keep, and still many days away from Montsimmard. Yet Cat had never felt more completely at home.

* * *

_Summer_

Despite starting out before dawn, the sun had still been a source of constant heat for much of their hike. Nathaniel had led her along hidden trails and secret paths; ways only he knew to a place he had kept secret his entire life. So much of his childhood had been spent either hidden away in the room where the family heirlooms were kept, or else outside exploring the forests and mountains surrounding Vigil’s Keep. Anything to get away from the constant bickering and sniping of his parents, or the heartbreaking neglect he and Delilah endured while Thomas was doted on.

The silver lining now, of course, was that Nathaniel knew the best places to run away to: the places he and Cataline could sneak off to when running the arling and overseeing the wardens became too much to deal with in addition to the oppressive heat of summer. They had left a note for Varel so the poor man did not panic and send out a search party, but other than that they had simply slipped away, carrying only the essentials in packs on their back. The sun had risen almost to its noon zenith by the time they reached the small, hidden mountain lake tucked away in the woods above the Keep.

And yet, the sun was not the reason Cat was currently lying sweating, breathless, and with blades of grass and pine needles stuck to various points of her skin. She was grateful for the lake nearby, because when the ground stopped moving beneath her body and she could trust her legs again, she was definitely going to need a wash. For the moment, however…

“Wool may not have been the best choice of blanket,” Nathaniel noted, his own breath still ragged and his fingers tracing lazy paths over her belly. “We probably should have unrolled the other one.

She giggled when he found a particularly sensitive spot, the sound pitching upward as his lips replaced his fingers. “It is a bit more itchy than would be ideal. If it helps, I honestly did not notice until we finished.”

“Fair point,” he laughed, shifting to kiss her properly before collapsing back down beside her. There was enough shade above them and the air was cool enough at this altitude that they would be comfortable once their body temperatures settled. If they gave each other a chance to settle. And while the wool was not the best material to have hastily thrown down before they threw themselves at each other, it would be appreciated once the sun set and they were lying out under the stars.

Cataline rolled over so that she was facing her husband. The trees overhead were casting shadows over his face, but his expression was calm. It was so good to see him finally content with life; with her. The path they were on would never be easy, exactly. On days like these, however, with the blue skies and the mountain air and the placid stillness of the lake, they were able to forget the rest of the world. Forget the work they had yet to accomplish. Their time was precious.

“I love you so much, Nathaniel.”

He reached a gentle hand out to stroke her cheek. “I love you too, Wildflower,” he replied softly. “My everything.” Nathaniel let his arm come to rest on her waist, a smile tilting at his lips as he looked at her. “So what do you think? A quick swim to rinse off, then lunch, then a nap?”

Cataline laughed, sitting up beside him and letting the sunshine wash over her.

“Well… maybe _eventually_ a nap.”

* * *

_Autumn_

Cat wiped her hand over her brow, too late realizing she had probably also left a streak of dust. She and Nathaniel had spent the entire morning helping Varel inventory the Keep’s stores in preparation for the long winter months, making lists of what was still needed, what could be traded for, and what there was an excess of that could be donated elsewhere. The courtyards were blooming with the color of blankets and sheets and other linens undergoing a final airing before they were stored away in cupboards and closets, ready to warm beds during the coldest part of the year.

A few dancing leaves fluttered in front of her feet as she emerged from the cellars into the burnished autumn light. The air was crisp and spiced with the smoke of bonfires and curing meats and simmering preserves, calls of laughter and chatter and industry echoing off the stone. Cat’s heart twinged a bit. Autumn had always been her cousin’s favorite time of year, and though it had hardly been a week since Thea and Loghain had returned to Montsimmard, Cat already missed them terribly. Nathaniel had picked up on her melancholy, of course, and had been particularly attentive.

Her husband joined her at her side, one arm twining around her waist as his other hand came to rest on his hip. He surveyed the organized chaos around them thoughtfully. “I believe we have done all that can be done for the moment, my Wildflower,” he noted, absently reaching up his sleeve to brush away the dust she had left on her forehead. “Varel should have the final tallies to us by this evening and we can make a plan for what we still need. If we send an order off to Amaranthine tomorrow morning, any supplies should get here well before the snows fall.”

Cataline nodded in agreement. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we? Hard to believe this is where we ended up, sometimes, but still.”

Nathaniel was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted, “I suppose I had always hoped for something like this. Maybe without the added step of having to drink darkspawn blood, but… but I had always dreamed of a life with you. Either returning to Highever with you, or bringing you here, or even running away to start our own life somewhere else, but always together.”

“I could not imagine a life without you in it, Nathaniel.” Cat arched up onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. “Which may go at least some way to explaining why I was twenty-eight years old and still nowhere near finding a suitable husband, despite my mother’s half-hearted attempts.”

He chuckled quietly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “Poor Eleanor… do you think she ever knew about-”

“About us? Yes.” Cataline took his hand and they began to meander back towards the main keep. “I think it is why, despite the occasional comment about more grandchildren, she knew I would never marry anyone else. And you should have seen how fierce Thea got whenever anyone tried to flirt with me. Andraste’s blood, you’d think they had grievously offended not only my honor, but hers.”

Nathaniel laughed then, the sound catching on the air and dancing in her ears.

“Thank the Maker she liked me, then, as I doubt even a healthy fear of her wrath could have kept me away from you.”


End file.
